[ General Resources | Policies & Procedures TaxSlayer | ITINs | W-2s | 1099-Rs | 1040-Related | Education | Property Taxes | IRAs | HSAs | Tax Law | For Next Year | Illinois | Other Info ]

Last update: 2 Mar 2025

• VITAResources.net
• IRS Free File Fillable Forms
• Ladder Up's Volunteer Resources
• CO Tax-Aide's tools

• VITA / TCE and AARP Tax-Aide locators
• Quality and Tax Alerts for IRS Volunteer Programs

TaxSlayer:

• Practice lab (initial password "TRAINPROWEB")
• Items requiring double-entry:
  • Retirement income not taxed by IL must be manually subtracted from income on the IL return. TaxSlayer will prompt for this
  • Property tax itemized on Sch A must be re-entered in IL. TaxSlayer will prompt for this
  • When itemizing, an IL refund from the previous year must be manually removed from income on the the IL return
• Interest on U.S. savings bonds (1099-INT Box 3) needs to be entered a second time on the 1099-INT page, as interest to be subtracted from the state return, to get it subtracted from IL income via IL-1040 line 7
• When a 1098-T Box 1's reported expenses are incorrect, override the Box 1 amount with the correct figure and enter that on the 8863
• Comments are accessed from the Client Search screen, via the flag symbol for each client, or from a drop-down accessed by clicking on the TP's name
• The client's email address is entered in the "E-File" section's second category ("Tax Preparation and E-File Information")
• When filing MFS but the spouse's SSN is not known, enter 111-00-1111 and file on paper (source)
• TaxSlayer's VITA/TCE blog
• TaxSlayer's info on filing without an SSN or ITIN

ITINs are issued to individuals who are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain, a Social Security number. They always start with '9'. [IRS source]

IRS information on Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) and their interactive tool to determine Am I Eligible to Apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number?

Both the 1040 instructions and Pub 17 say that a TP filing as MFS and who has a spouse does not have and is not required to have an SSN or ITIN should enter "NRA" where their TIN would usually appear. This presumably requires filing on paper. I can't find anything official that says whether this can be done with as MFJ, or if MFJ is even an option in this situation

H&R Block's info on how to file taxes when marrying a non-U.S. citizen boils down to:

• Use HoH if eligible
• Otherwise MFS is the default option
• MFJ is possible but can trigger FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) reports and Form 8938 (Statement of Foreign Financial Assets), all of which is way outside our competency

If an ITIN is not used on a U.S. federal tax return for any 3 consecutive tax years, it expires on December 31 after the third tax year of non-use. (IRS source)

ITINs issued before 2013 are expired unless they have been renewed (source: Ladder Up mini-manual)

Returns can be submitted with an expired ITIN, but refunds will not be released until the ITIN is renewed, and any exemptions and credits will be disallowed.

• If any Allocated Tips (Box 8) are reported, either that amount or the TP's actual tips (if the TP has adequate records) must be added to Box 1 income, *and* Form 4137 "Social Security and Medicare Tax on Unreported Tip Income" must be completed [source; full details are in Pub 531]
• Box 12 codes (H&R Block)

• Box 7 codes (TaxSlayer support)
• IRS RMD worksheets
• Exceptions to Tax on Early Distributions; IRS tool to determine whether an early distribution qualifies for an exception
• Simplified Method Worksheet in TaxSlayer
  • see Pub 4012 p. D-48
  • How do I complete the Simplified Method Worksheet (1099-R)? (TaxSlayer support)
  • CO Tax-Aide's calculator

• Form 1040 Instructions: HTML, PDF
• Pub 17, "Your Federal Income Tax": HTML, PDF
• Pub 501, "Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information": HTML, PDF
• Dependency Qualification Calculator (CO Tax-Aide)
• Worksheet for Determining Support: Excel, LibreOffice
• CO Tax-Aide's Tax Credit Plotter (EIC, CTC and Child / Dependent Care)
• Certain "Medicaid Waiver" payments (payments to a caregiver under a state Home and Community-Based Services Waiver program) may be excluded from gross income. But a taxpayer can consider those as income for claiming EITC and ACTC. [IRS rules, ref 1, ref 2]
• If a taxpayer has had unemployment illicitly claimed in their name, they should obtain a corrected 1099-G if possible. If that is not received in time they should include the *correct* number on their return, and save all documentation regarding their attempts to get a corrected 1099-G [Source: VTA-2021-08 (broken link)]
• Schedule A (itemized deductions)
  • Instructions
  • What qualifies for the medical expenses deduction
• Schedule B (dividends and interest)
  • The "NAEOB" column is for reporting
    • dividends or interest received as a Nominee
    • Accrued interest from a bond
    • tax-Exempt interest from a post-1989 series EE or I U.S. savings bonds
    • Original issue discount (OID)
    • reduced interest income on a bond by the amount of amortized Bond premium
• Schedule C (self employment)
  • Instructions (PDF)
  • Business activity codes are on the last 2 pages)

    • Driver (taxi, limo, ride-sharing)	485300
      Other transit & ground passenger transportation	485990
      Beauty salons	812112

    • CO Tax-Aide's expandable list
  • When there is self employment, make sure to deduct any health insurance premiums as a Sch 1 adjustment to income!
  • When Are Transportation Expenses Deductible? (IRS)
  • Car washes are considered part of the std mileage rate and may not be included as a separate business expense (VTA-2019-01, Feb 14, 2019)
  • "Reimbursement" items on Uber stts are NOT expenses Uber reimbursed the TP for but rather money Uber deducted FROM the TP to reimburse itself for something it paid for (most often fuel via a fuel card). These ARE business expenses for the TP, though items like fuel must be prorated across business vs. personal miles
  • For our clients, the Section 179 deduction (IRS) allows essentially all business property purchased to be deducted as an expense in the year purchased rather than depreciated. This often allows us to keep a return in-scope; the exception is when it raises expenses to where the business suffers a loss
• Schedule D (capital gains and losses)
  • Rules for deducting worthless securities (12 Apr 2019)
• Avoiding an underpayment penalty (Federal; IL's rules are the same)
  • owe less than $1000, or
  • have already paid at least 100% of the previous year's tax, or
  • have already paid at least 90% of the current year's tax
• If the taxpayer owes but AGI is less than $31,500 ind. / $47,250 HoH / $63,000 MFJ and is open to contributing to an IRA (traditional or Roth), look into Form 8880, Credit for Qualified Retirement Savings Contributions
• Payment Options (IRS)
• Summary of all the different versions of MAGI (Bogleheads)
• IRS Where's My Refund? tool

• Accredited post-secondary schools and programs (Dept of Education)
• Qualified Education Expenses (IRS)
• AARP reports that after 1098-T Box 2 ("Amounts billed for qualified tuition and related expenses") was "retired" in TY2018, a change in the instructions for Box 1 led some schools to only report expenses the student paid themselves, incorrectly omitting expenses paid via scholarships and grants. This makes it more important to check the actual expenses charged to the student's account
• AOC & Scholarship spreadsheet: Excel, LibreOffice
  • John's 2017 original ...
  • ... and his guide
  • CEP's online version
  • Burt's AOC Maximization Calculator; my version: Excel, LibreOffice
• CO Tax Aide's Education Benefits Calculator

• Kane County (requires JavaScript and cookies)
• Cook County
• McHenry County
• Lake County
• DuPage County
• Will County
• Kendall County

IRAs

IRA Form 8606 (Nondeductible IRAs) Worksheet (CO Tax-Aide)

HSAs

• Qualified expenses per Pub 969 -- generally, all those that qualify for the medical expenses deduction plus OTC meds and menstrual care products
• HSA Mistakes to Avoid: Dependent Rules (8 Nov 2022)
• While taxpayers may cover adult children up to age 26 on their health insurance, HSA funds may be spent on those children only if they qualify as dependents (ref)

Tax Law

Standard mileage rates (business, charity, and medical / moving)

For Next Year

• Estimated Tax Worksheet (for 1040-ES) (CO Tax-Aide)

Dividends from (a) river edge development zones or (b) a "high impact business" (HIB, as designated by IL's Dept of Commerce and Economic Opportunity) within a federally designated foreign trade zone or sub-zone may be subtracted from IL income using Schedule 1299-C. As of 2021 the known such HIBs (unofficial source but matching what Sue Goetz told me in 2020) are

• Abbott (ABT), "Sub-Zone 22F"
• Abbvie (ABBV), "Chicago/Sub-Zone 22S"
• Caterpillar (CAT), "Peoria/Sub-Zone 114A"
• Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), "Chicago/Sub-Zone 22"

• For TPs with income of $84,000 or less: IRS Free File provides a directory of free user-friendly tools
• For all TPs: the IRS's online Free Fillable Forms will perform the calculations but TPs must understand what information to enter and where
• IRS Newswire
• Starting in 2024, excess money "stuck" in 529 college-savings plans can be rolled over to a Roth IRA (Reuters article)